I'm thinking of putting in a statement regarding combined shipping and a restocking fee. WDY Think?

[musicyouneed]

I am back again for some advice.  Everyone is so helpful, Thanks in advance. 

I use USPS mail for my US buyers and have over the past few years had several bulk buyers.  I currently have the statement on my listings:  "I do offer combined shipping for the US.  Please contact me for details. "

A potential buyer in the US contacted me yesterday and stated that they were interested in a few of my CD's and they wanted to know what combined shipping would be.  

I emailed them back:

I use USPS mail. I take it to a courier in Canada, who takes it over the border to mail USPS. 

To send 2 CD's by First Class Mail would be $6.00 USD total, shipping is fast, about 4 days with tracking. Total weight must be under 15 oz.  The $ amount is for postage and the courier fee.
To send 2 to 5 CD's by Media Mail would be $5.00 USD total, shipping is a lot slower, takes about 8 days with tracking. The $ amount is for postage and the courier fee. 

If you buy 6 or more from me at the same time, shipping will be free. 

If interested let me know which ones and I will make it so the combined shipping option will work for you. 

Now I was thinking that I might add that to all my listings especially the ones on .com, What do you think?

Also, I have had a few ones that have had problems with the address, one not putting on her apartment # and another not updating their address when they moved.  I was thinking of putting in a restocking fee and putting this on my listings.

A 15% restocking fee applies only under the following conditions:

Any items that are:

1) Returned without contacting the seller directly or without going through eBay's return process or

2) Returned by post office due to a faulty, incomplete or incorrect address, or marked as undeliverable, or rejected by recipient.  Refund will only be for the item only not the shipping amount paid.  If you want the item remailed you will have to pay for the postage again. 

What do you think?

[ypdc_dennis]

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@musicyouneed wrote:
,,, I have had a few ones that have had problems with the address, one not putting on her apartment # and another not updating their address when they moved.  I was thinking of putting in a restocking fee and putting this on my listings.

A 15% restocking fee applies only under the following conditions:

Any items that are:

1) Returned without contacting the seller directly or without going through eBay's return process or

2) Returned by post office due to a faulty, incomplete or incorrect address, or marked as undeliverable, or rejected by recipient.  Refund will only be for the item only not the shipping amount paid.  If you want the item remailed you will have to pay for the postage again.

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Condensing/simplifying a bit:

A 15% restocking fee only applies if:

1) Item is returned without contacting the seller directly or without going through eBay's return process.

2) Item is returned by post office due to an incorrect address, or marked as undeliverable, or rejected by the recipient.

...

Refund will only be for the item only not the shipping amount paid. -- it's not clear if this applies to all returns or just case 2

If you want the item remailed you will have to pay for the postage again. -- I'd drop that completely, best to handle that on a case by case basis.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@musicyouneed wrote:

I use USPS mail for my US buyers and have over the past few years had several bulk buyers.  I currently have the statement on my listings:  "I do offer combined shipping for the US.  Please contact me for details. "

A potential buyer in the US contacted me yesterday and stated that they were interested in a few of my CD's and they wanted to know what combined shipping would be.  

I emailed them back:

I use USPS mail. I take it to a courier in Canada, who takes it over the border to mail USPS. 

To send 2 CD's by First Class Mail would be $6.00 USD total, shipping is fast, about 4 days with tracking. Total weight must be under 15 oz.  The $ amount is for postage and the courier fee.
To send 2 to 5 CD's by Media Mail would be $5.00 USD total, shipping is a lot slower, takes about 8 days with tracking. The $ amount is for postage and the courier fee. 

If you buy 6 or more from me at the same time, shipping will be free. 

If interested let me know which ones and I will make it so the combined shipping option will work for you. 

Now I was thinking that I might add that to all my listings especially the ones on .com

 

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Not a bad idea for your US$ listings. I'd simplify as:

I offer combined shipping for USA addresses. Please contact me first before buying so I can make combined shipping work for you.

2 to 5 CD's by USPS Media Mail would be $5.00 combined. 
6 or more from me at the same time, shipping will be free. 
Contact me first.

-..-

[dutchman48]

Problem is, buyers don't read, especially on cell phones.

I have done both with terms and no terms and it seems to make no difference at all.

Description portion  will be shortened in the near future to 250 characters readable I believe, to get rid of all the terms and conditions sellers put in their descriptions which should be for description of the item, short and to the point fro reading on cell phones.

[femmefan1946]

Problem is, buyers don't read, especially on cell phones.

True enough, but the customers who are contacting musicyouneed about combined shipping are reading and not finding an answer.

And the restocking charge apparently has to be in the ToS before there is a returns problem or eBay (and Paypal) will not back the seller.

KISS.

Do keep your ToS as short as possible, in part for cellphones.

[recped]

All that garbage about how you ship etc is pointless and really not relevant to buyers at all (most wouldn't have a clue what you are talking about. As other said just boil it down to "if you buy this many it cost this much".

As for a restocking fee, if you want to do that you need to follow proper procedures, simply putting it in your description isn't good enough.

Details here: http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/return-process.html

Now a question for you....how many remorse returns have you had? I know that in 18 years I've had exactly ONE remorse return selling similar goods.

Also understand, for many if not most buyers a restocking fee means that any and all returns you might actually get will surely be of the SNAD type (regardless if true) which means not only that you will not be able to charge a restocking fee but also you will be paying return shipping.

Personally I will not ever buy from a seller who has a restocking fee and/or goes on and on about returns and the various roadblocks they attempt to put up. My impression would be that the seller in question is going to be nothing but trouble should a problem occur.

Here's how I would respond to the potential buyer question:

Q - Do you combine shipping?

A - Yes, shipping for each additional CD is $1.50

or if you like

A - Yes, shipping for each additional CD is $1.50 for the first 4 additional and free after that.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@dutchman48 wrote:
... Description portion  will be shortened in the near future to 250 characters readable I believe, to get rid of all the terms and conditions sellers put in their descriptions which should be for description of the item, short and to the point for reading on cell phones.

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On eBay.com when I go to list, next to the Item description section I now see: New! Mobile-friendly checker which does a quick display of what a cell phone would see for the description (along with recommendations for adjustments).